Germany announces roster for friendly vs. USMNT

Germany announced a 20-man roster for the June 10 friendly against the United States in Cologne. That same Germany team will then take on Gibraltar three days later in a Euro 2016 qualifier.

The Germans are going with a mostly first choice team, headlined by Mario Götze, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Mesut Özil. Their questions, as per usual are in defense. Jerome Boateng and Mats Hummels are their two most experienced options, and have been excellent before, but they can be mistake prone. The Germans also lack fullbacks, something that the Americans should be able to exploit with Philipp Lahm having retired from international soccer.

In addition to Lahm, Germany will be without Manuel Neuer and Thomas Müller so it's not quite the best they have to offer, but there are usually some absences from international matches and all three are coming off of long seasons with Bayern Munich.

Of course, U.S. manager Jurgen Klinsmann and Germany manager Jogi Löw know each other well. Löw was Klinsmann's top assistant when the latter managed Germany at the 2006 World Cup. The teams also know each other well, having squared off in last summer's World Cup. Germany won, 1-0, and won the group, but the U.S. still advanced in second place.

The U.S. team for the friendly, as well as the contest against Netherlands that will proceed it, has yet to be announced. That will likely come in the next week.

Goalkeepers: Roman Weidenfeller (Borussia Dortmund), Ron-Robert Zieler (Hannover 96).

Defenders: Jerome Boateng (Bayern Munich), Erik Durm (Borussia Dortmund), Jonas Hector (1. FC Köln), Mats Hummels (Borussia Dortmund), Shkodran Mustafi (FC Valencia), Antonio Rüdiger (VfB Stuttgart), Sebastian Rudy (1899 Hoffenheim).

Midfielders: Karim Bellarabi (Bayer 04 Leverkusen), Ilkay Gündogan (Borussia Dortmund), Sami Khedira (Real Madrid), Christoph Kramer (Borussia Mönchengladbach) Mesut Özil (Arsenal), Lukas Podolski (Inter Milan), André Schürrle (Wolfsburg), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich).

Forwards: Mario Götze (Bayern Munich), Max Kruse (Borussia Monchengladbach)